This page: A contemporary photograph of a Vanden Plas 3 Litre saloon in a BMC sandwich.

Vanden Plas 3 Litre Princess.

BMC certainly got their money's worth from Pinifarina, given how many times they re-worked the basic Farina saloon body design to suit different marques in their stable. Austin Cambridges and Morris Oxfords were the bread-and-butter offerings, while those with deeper pockets, or a tendency to wear a trilby while behind the wheel, may well have been tempted by the rarer, and more opulently-trimmed Vanden Plas, either in 3 Litre or 4 Litre R guise.

Whereas the 4 Litre R was propelled by an engine sourced from Rolls-Royce, the 3 Litre understudy introduced in 1959 made do with BMC's C-Series straight six of 2912cc. The 3 Litre Vanden Plas shown below is in good company, to its left is a Morris Minor, while to its right is a close cousin, in the be-finned form of a Mk2 Austin A55 Cambridge, registration 511 LTG. Both the Cambridge and the VdP (registration 1 GNY) were first registered in Glamorgan, Wales. The Princess' distinctive number is now attached to a modern BMW Mini, so maybe the Vanden Plas survives on a re-issued number, or else met its fate in a crusher. Being thrashed and trashed around a b*nger racing track could also have been its final journey, once the number had been stripped from it.

(Please click the thumbnail to view full-size image.)

Initially, this model was known as the Princess 3 Litre - no mention of "Austin" or even "Vanden Plas" as on many vehicles prior to this car's launch - but by mid-1960 the model name had been altered to Vanden Plas Princess 3 Litre in the catalogues. Visually, from the front anyway, there are few differences between the 3 Litre and the 4 Litre R. The latter, while sharing the 3 Litre's basic profile, differed in that the top of the screen no longer jutted forward slightly, and the sidelights were of a slightly different design. The 3 Litres also have standalone Lucas foglamps fitted above the bumper, either side of the radiator grille. The back end was significantly re-worked for the Rolls-Royce powered version though.

Two versions of the 3 Litre Princess were produced during the car's production run, with the final Princess rolling out of the factory in 1964.

Anyone running a Vanden Plas, whether it's a 3 Litre or a different model, may well find the parts advertised in this section of the site to be useful.